Gelcoat repair

[Inkaporka]

G'day all

Looking for some advice on how to repair a ding in the gelcoat of my boat - lurched forward when I made an emergency stop to avoid taking out a suicidal teenager, attempting a last minute turn in front of me. Boat was not strapped down, usually is, the inertia of a 3 tonne boat at 40km/hr on a frictionless surface resulted in my winch post roller mount being mashed, complacency was the lesson of the day.

Anyway, any advice on how to repair the ding would be appreciated, thanks.

[Micadogs]

Whilst working with fibreglass is relatively easy to do, to get it looking like there wasnt a repair done (or even to get it nice and neat) is an art form.

It is best left to someone with experience. There are heaps of fibreglass repairs / boat building places to assist.

It shouldnt be all that expensive either.

The other thing to check is to ensure that damage hasnt gone through the eye. you know, the spot that you hook the winch to.

Last thing you want is for that to let go with "energy" as you are winching in, the steel cable can cut you in half, the boat will roll away etc.

Cheers Adam

[Inkaporka]

Adam

Thanks for that, thankfully the damage seems not to have affected the eye, it is a small chip about 10-15 mm by 5 mm off to one side - anyone able to recommend a good glass repair person on the Coast?

Cheers

[Fed]

It sounds like you need a gelcoat repair kit, got a picture?
5mm x 15mm is nothing.

[Micadogs]

Ok, that is a pretty small chip. You could just about fill that will flowcoat.

You would need to sand / grind out the chip. This will give it a surface to bond to properly. Then mix the flowcoat as per the instructions. Paint it on, a littel higher than what is required, and let it set.

Use masking tape around the area to stop scratching and start sanding away. I would start with 240 grit and get right down to 600 to 1200 grit (remove tape at this time so it is all one surface). Finally polish and wax.

Cheers Adam

[cormorant]

That winch post will need a good looking at as well. They aren't designed to take weight moving forward very well. You are a very lucky man to not lose the boat or cause someone else damage.

[fishfeeder]

There are a few posts on here that describe how to add chains to help stop the boat move forward in hard braking..
Maybe someone could put up a picture of there setup so others can do the same...

Cheers
Brett

[Inkaporka]

Yep, I usually strap her down with a heavy duty ratchet strap, as I said complacency or more to the point the danger of complacency was the lesson here. I will definitely be making sure she is strapped down in future, no matter how short the trip.
The winch post roller mount actually saved the boat (and possibly others close by) from damage, being ally it just collapsed and absorbed all the energy. I didn't realise the extent of the damage till I arrived at the ramp, as has been commented above it could have been a lot worse.

Thanks for all the advice re repairs one and all, very much appreciated, my main concern apart from the cosmetic aspect is avoiding any water entry to the "wound".

[cormorant]

Out of interest I have gone away from chains for boat moving forward as turnbuckles give me the craps. I use beaver tie dogs and most brands do similar ( some with better hook options) . Same as a short ratchet strap only cast hooks either end and 2 seconds to adjust and remove. I would prefer shackles or security hooks that couldn't fall out and may get them made up like that I still have a token chain on the winchpost which - well - what can you say - tits on a bull but Ok in case winch cable breaks on ramp but that is about it.

As for the gelcoat repair. Even if the gouge is down to the fibre most well laid up boats wouldn't suffer any sort of water damage as the fibres should be fully wetted out and the gelcoat is pretty well impervious even when damaged. Moored boats have other issues but with modern layup of glass most of them are old issues now as well. Tape it up , rough sand, flowcoat , sand various grades , polish. Will come up well. As a hint any surfboard repairer or kayak repairer will do a brilliant job as they deal with small bits all the time

Edit - not hard to do yourself if you are patient and watch a couple of clips of others doing it.

[WalrusLike]

Yep, I usually strap her down with a heavy duty ratchet strap.....

There are a few posts on Ausfish about over tightening straps causing cracks.

First way is by squeezing the gunnels towards each other and so cracking at the chine. Second way is by increasing the pressure on hull rollers and deforming hull.

Moral of the story is don't put much force into the restraining strap. It simply is to stop disconnects from rollers in transit.

To restrain boat to trailer needs chains or some such to hull strong points like front eye, and rear transom eyes.

I am always suspect about these 'strong' points.... I want to reinforce mine but haven't done so yet.

[Inkaporka]

I normally strap down through the mooring cleats at the stern, they are located about 400mm forward of the stern (no transom, motors are pod-mounted), so would be extremely disappointed and frankly surprised if there was any hull damage resulting form strapping here. Good point about the disconnection being the crucial part of the process - my trailer has bunks lined with polyethylene strips, very slick for launching and clearly, after my recent experience, very low in terms of friction coefficient with the hull. The boat has a couple of towing eyes at the stern, they are well mounted so I may start strapping down through those also, just to be sure to be sure.

[Fed]

To me it's all about the winch post, if it's not strong enough you need to get a better one or start fooling around with trying to stop backward & forward movement with chains or turnbuckles connected to the bow eye.

Pulling a boat down to increase the friction doesn't cut it at all IMO.

There's no way anyone can accelerate or brake hard enough bend a decent winch post set up properly with the boat. All bets are off in prangs though, nothing's designed to handle those forces.

[WalrusLike]

. All bets are off in prangs though, nothing's designed to handle those forces.

Yeah the forces involved in a prang are enormous. When I am thinking of securing the boat I am trying to aim for it surviving a near miss....

So maybe not normal braking but rather... Oh Sh$t!!... massive braking, lost control, jackknifed and hits gutter. That kind of almost-prang.

Never tried that (and don't want to) so its all just guess work on my part.... That's why I watch these threads whenever someone has a real life instance.... Can be very informative.

[Fed]

You were going great until you hit the gutter Wal.

I think Inkaporka's episode could be considered a prang, he did say the boat lurched forward so that sort of indicates it had room to move before it hit the bow roller which is the same as a prang.
Either that or the winch post roller mount was not strong enough for normal use or the boat wasn't set up properly with the winch post roller.
I've seen bow eyes either a foot above or below the post rollers, accidents waiting to happen.

[cormorant]

I'm different . A winch post is a winch post. It was never designed to take the full weight of a boat except in a small tinny of a couple of hundred KG and that is only because the standard metal is thick enough not by good design - that is why you have tie downs but boat owners graduate up in size and the winch post doesn't increase in strength or good design much and is a rust and fatigue point. They use pissy tiedowns and don't upgrade them much either. Even having a roller at the front of bow as it rises makes a huge difference as it prevents the boat moving forward and getting momentum as long as the bow is tied down.

Only winch post I sort of trust is the cat one where it was braced 6 foot back to the trailer chassis rails with 40*60 rhs but with most cats they have a chain to the middle of the trailer as well.

Yeah I've broken/ stuffed a winch post or 2 over the years by letting them rust a bit or overstressing them pulling loaded boats off the sand on beach recoveries and learn't to do things better and keep a eye on them. Seen a couple bent up with surges at ramps or peopel smoking tyres up ramps as well. Even not strapping down very well and driving hard would have contributed in my younger days to my post eventually failing. Especially if a bog standard of the shelf thin piece of crap that after a few years collects leaves and pools water for the pefect trouble in the future.

We all think we do enough until you get a wake up call like this thread and then go have a good think about what we have done in the past. Like most of us I know I am lucky to have got away with the way I strapped things down because we didn't encounter a accident that would have showed how inadequate we do it in general. Hell knows what a insurer would do if they had the chance to get out of a claim or the courts if you are proved to be negligent. Dealers need to do a bit more education with package deals for people new to boating as well not just slip just good enough straps on and not show then the correct way to do it.